Targeting worshippers: Two killed in Quetta mosque explosion

Three people killed as they drove over a landmine; one killed in firing incident.

QUETTA: Two persons were killed, and 17 others injured, when a bomb went off at a mosque in Quetta late Thursday afternoon.

“Around 400 to 500 people were saying their Asr prayers when the explosion took place,” an eyewitness, Ajmal Mustafa, told The Express Tribune.

“The bomb was attached to a pillar of the Farooqia Mosque in Gousabad area of Satellite Town,” Mustafa said.

Deputy Commissioner Quetta Hasim Gilzai confirmed the death toll.

Law enforcement agencies and rescue teams rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area. The deceased and injured were taken to the Provincial Sandman Hospital. The mosque was partly damaged in the blast. “Two of the injured are in critical condition,” hospital sources said.

According to the bomb disposal squad, around four to five kilogrammes of explosive material was used in the blast.

The deceased were identified as retired army officer from Haripur Hazara Mohsin and Inayatullah.

No one claimed responsibility for the explosion till the filing of the report.

Landmine, firing

Meanwhile, four persons, including a father and son, were killed in a landmine explosion and firing incidents in Dera Bugti and Kech districts on Thursday morning.

“Three persons, including a boy, were heading towards Sui on a motorbike when they drove over a landmine in the Bugti tribal territory. All three were killed in the blast,” police officials said.

The deceased were identified as Muhammad Hafiz, Irfan and Ahmed Hussain Bugti.

In another incident, unidentified assailants shot dead a person in the Tump area of Kech district near Turbat. The deceased was identified as Mehboub. The police moved the body to the hospital for autopsy.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 22^nd, 2012.